Genetics for low correlation between Fusarium head blight disease and deoxynivalenol (DON) content in a bread wheat mapping population

KEY MESSAGE: Two QTL with major effects on DON content reduction were identified on chromosomes 3BL and 3DL, with the former showing minor and the latter showing no effects on FHB resistance. ABSTRACT: Deoxynivalenol (DON) contamination in food and feed is a major concern regarding Fusarium head blight (FHB) infection in wheat. However, relatively less attention has been paid on DON compared to FHB. In this study, a FHB-susceptible cultivar ‘NASMA’ was hybridized with a FHB-resistant CIMMYT breeding line ‘IAS20*5/H567.71’ to generate 197 recombinant inbred lines. The population was phenotyped for FHB and associated traits including DON accumulation in spray-inoculated field experiments at CIMMYT-Mexico across four years. Genotyping was performed by using the Illumina Infinium 15 K Beadchip and SSR markers. QTL mapping results indicated that the field FHB resistance was mainly controlled by QTL at Rht-D1 and Vrn-A1, along with a few minor QTL. For DON content, two major QTL were identified: the first located on chromosome 3BL (R(2) of 16–24%), showing minor effects on FHB, and the second was on chromosome 3DL (R(2) of 10–15%), exhibiting no effect on FHB resistance. It is likely that both DON QTL are new based on comparison with previous studies. This study indicates that resistance to DON accumulation and FHB disease could involve different genes, and the utilization of the two DON QTL in breeding could be helpful in further reducing DON contamination in food and feed. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s00122-019-03362-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.